The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for the manipulation and investigation of cellular-level activity and in particular to a scaffold system for neurons permitting, in various embodiments, guided growth or interconnection of neurons and sensing or stimulation of neural activity.
The study of cellular activity, for example the operation of neurons, may require localized stimulation of individual or small clusters of cells. This may be done through the use of fine electrodes inserted into or near the cells and connected by leads to external equipment. The cells may be stabilized with the tip of a pipette or by using an on-chip cell measurement system such as is commercially available from Nanion Technologies associated with the domain of nanion.de or using a technology such as Neurochips offered by Infineon associated with the domain of infineon.com.
Particularly for neural tissues having complex interaction among neurons, such electrode systems can be difficult to place and can be impractical when multiple, closely spaced measurements need to be made.